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Unicorn.

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    Robin Williams...so sad

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

     

    A friend wrote this today when he heard about Robin Williams. It's his very personal words, but I thought it might help with the question of why and how? I'm sharing with his permission: 

     

    So I just found out that Robin Williams is dead of an apparent suicide. When we hear about something like this, most of us are confused. Why would someone do that to themselves? Why would he put his family through that? Was he just taking the easy way out?

     

    conclusion to some conscious decision reached in a state of cowardice or selfishness. The reality of the situation is more akin to a cancer patient succumbing to the disease.

     

    No. Scratch that. Suicide is nothing like that. Individuals suffering from cancer have the love and support of everyone around them. Friends, family, coworkers, and people who might know someone they know rally to the call, hosting bake sales to cover medical costs and shaving their heads so that the patient doesn’t feel so strange when all his/her hair falls out from radiation and chemo.

     

    Someone suffering from suicide suffers for years, sometimes decades. There is no support for the patient, only recommendations that they just “be happyâ€. Rather than raise money, those few people who acknowledge the problem distance themselves, everyone else pretends not to notice. Most friends and family don’t even have to pretend. Their beloved deteriorates before their eyes and they have no idea that anything is wrong.

     

    Surrounded by shadows, the victim of depression suffers alone. Life is no longer an experience to be enjoyed, but to be feared. The day holds no wonderful possibilities, only the promise of pain. Each morning a victim might be forced to ask himself if he wants to live another day. Most days, he lies to himself and proceeds as if nothing is wrong. Mainly, the depressed roll through the day on autopilot, letting life happen around them because, if they make a conscious decision, they might make the wrong one.

     

    Other days, they are more honest with themselves. When the question is asked, something that typically isn’t voluntary but comes as naturally as breathing, they answer the question with a true heart. If they’re lucky, they survive the incident. They don’t cut deep enough or the vomit up the sleeping pills. Someone might walk in on them. Or perhaps they take the coward’s way out… and put the gun down.

     

    Contrary to popular belief, it takes a lot of courage to kill oneself. Don’t believe me? Ask yourself this; how much blood could you draw from your own wrist before you chicken out? Could you wash down a whole bottle of sleeping pills with a bottle of cheap whiskey? All of those “cowards†are quite capable.

     

    Other days, the victim of depression doesn’t survive. The disease wins the battle and the term used for this is called “suicideâ€. It was never a conscious choice, no more than succumbing to cancer is a conscious choice.

     

    A person suffering from depression is incapable of experiencing joy or satisfaction. Their brain doesn’t function properly. The right chemicals are lacking and the wrong ones are filling in the gaps. There’s a physical ailment, a real and tangible issue that exists in the brain and the symptoms are mostly behavioral and psychological. Essentially, the depressed individual is on a train heading for a cliff and the brakes have failed.

     

    One might ask “well, why not just jump off the train?†But it’s not that simple. Depression isn’t that kind to offer an easy way out. No. Depression is a cruel sonofabitch. To the person stuck alone on a doomed path, the way out seems more terrifying and horrible than the prospect of sitting still and riding the train to the end of the track. The ground is jagged rock and broken glass. And compared to that, the idea of just falling into empty space is vastly preferable.

     

    That does not mean that it’s an easy decision to make. No one ever decided to kill himself because it was easy. Sometimes, it’s just too hard not to.

     

     

    I hope this helps people to understand how a person can end their own life. They’re not actually doing it. They’re dying slowly of a terrible disease that leaves their physical body intact while destroying the mind. The suicide is just the last moment of that slow and horrible process. Or at least that's how it felt to me.

     

     

    This is a good description, but I disagree with the red.  They don't suffer alone- loved ones and friends are suffering, because they can't help.  They aren't without support, but it's more like the one w/ depression is inside a room with bullet proof glass walls, and those trying/wanting to help are beating on those walls futilely, and can't get in, no matter how hard they try.  We can take them to get help, make them take meds, do everything we are supposed to do, and sometimes it just isn't enough. But they do not suffer alone and unnoticed.  

    Robin Williams...so sad

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    edited out, as I'm sure she would want it that way....

     

    I hope that you never, ever, find that kind of "courage".  You know we love you, and don't want to lose you.  I know it sucks, but I'm selfishly asking that you never make that choice.   :grouphug:  :grouphug:  :grouphug:  :grouphug:

    Gluten Free Road trip food and snacks?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    What do you pack for road trips... quick meals and snack stuff?  I need to pack some food for dd for a road trip, and other than making some muffins, I'm drawing a blank.   I don't want store bought junk, I'm thinking stuff I can throw in a cooler for her to snack on, and something that could be used as a quick meal if they don't stop someplace that has safe options for her.  

     

    So what do you pack for road trips?  (she'll be on the road about 2 days)

     

    TIA

    5 year old son is still complaining about "hurting".... ideas?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I agree with Corraleno- I was thinking autoimmune disorder.  Can you put him on a gluten free diet- it might take a few months to notice anything, but it is recommended for most auto immune disorders.  Bags under the eyes are a sign of allergies.   He could still have a dairy allergy, too, even if he's tested negative.

     

    Poor little guy- I hope he gets some relief soon.

    Cat People: Is this normal?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I don't think you guys understand what I am saying. I mean that they 1) anticipate/know when I brush my teeth in the evenings and will come and wait/watch me brush my teeth! 2) they won't be distracted from watching me! Not even by food. 

    Is this a phase or do I have to adjust to a life of brushing with an audience?

    ETA: Grammar.

     

    ETA2: OH! And they don't watch the boys brush like they do me!!! I don't know is that means the boys aren't brushing when they are supposed to or what!

    1. We understand,  because it's normal weird cat behavior. 

    2.  I think you are being paranoid- Wendy was kidding- they aren't REALLY plotting to kill you.  (well, they might, but they rarely succeed)
    3.  Just throw them out and shut the door.  Or flick water on them until they leave.  That's what I do.

    Faithmanor Car Accident

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    Faith, I am so sorry!  That is maddening that you can't be with your boy.  I hope you both recover quickly, and that somebody will be there with him.  I would have skype on 24/7, after having been booked by the pd for killing the person who said I couldn't stay!    :grouphug:  :grouphug:  :grouphug:  Great big hugs for both of you.  

    Church fraud warning

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    We have a large group of Romanian Gypsies in our town that are currently trying to scam people.  They do the corner thing asking for food, but turned down food when people try to offer. They use kids for sympathy- sometimes the kids change- sometimes it's different woman with the same man, or different man with same woman, etc...  The cops run them off, and they come back later.  My friend saw them at her church over the winter... said they all showed up, pretended not to know each other, and then when church was over, they were all in a large group together.   I know we have a legitimate homeless population in our little town, but they aren't the ones standing on corners.  They actually prefer not to be noticed, and rarely ask for anything.  They are also grateful when people offer food.  Sad that so many try and take advantage of others.

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